The 67's will be short an overager when they take on the Belleville Bulls in their home opener at the Civic Centre tonight.

Yesterday, the club released Matt Lahey after the soon-to-be-20-year-old cleared waivers. Lahey, who was plagued by injuries, was relegated to fourth-line duty after a knee scope caused him to miss most of training camp. He played, but was ineffective, in the team's first two games.

"I talked to him and told him we had too many right- handed shots, too many players," coach/GM Brian Kilrea said of Lahey, who scored 19 goals (in 48 games) for Ottawa three seasons ago and 21 goals (in 61 games) in 2006-07, when he was often the right winger for Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn. "I told him he can go wherever he wants. I wished him luck, and that's it.

CLEARED OVERAGE SPOT

"We've cleared an (overage) spot, and now if we need to, we can do something."

Trying to improve on their 1-1 record, the 67's will have defenceman Julien Demers, returned this week from the San Jose Sharks, in the lineup.

"He's just a big rock on our blue line," said Kilrea, who is still without centre Logan Couture (San Jose) and defenceman Tyler Cuma (Minnesota).

Making his regular-season debut tonight will be Pieter Schinkelshoek, the 67's second-round pick who missed the first two games with a concussion. Goalie Adam Courchaine is still not ready to return from a groin injury, leaving Chris Perugini to start not only tonight, but also tomorrow's game in Belleville and Sunday's tilt in Oshawa.

Adam Stein has been summoned from the Tier II Ajax Attack to be the backup.